Chapter 142: HOUSE MONEY
Seven men.
Two were inside his shelter. Three were going through his supplies. One watched the channel with a short bow. The seventh stood beside Cinder.
No contracted beasts. No capture gear. Just armed takers who had heard there was valuable stock on an isolated claim.
One wore Aiden's spare boots. Another had his salt.
Take the boots. The salt is personal.
Then he looked at Cinder.
She lay banked on her stone while a pot of stolen eel-meat simmered on her back.
Aiden stared.
Oh, that's brave. That's stupid. They're cooking on a Tier Three beast's back.
A cooking pot.
This may genuinely be the stupidest thing I've seen.
Cinder felt him through the bond.
She wasn't hurt. She was furious and deeply humiliated.
Her fire was low, but not gone. Seven armed men weren't worth burning through her reserves when none of them had attacked her.
So she had waited for Aiden and the men had mistaken that for weakness.
I picked the fen. She's the one paying extra every time something needs burning.
And I'm going to hear about that pot forever.
Miasma crouched beside him in the reeds, her longer spines flat against her back. Nyx had already disappeared into the shadows around the camp.
Aiden touched Miasma's shoulder and pointed toward the two men nearest the shelter.
Her spines rose.
He started with the man holding his salt. Aiden Shadow Stepped beside him.
The man noticed and reached for his knife. Aiden caught his wrist and dragged Acid Weave across the hilt. The man fought to pull it free as the metal softened, then the blade, sheath, and part of the belt sagged into smoking ruin.
The man stared down. "What the—"
Aiden punched him in the mouth. The man folded over the bag of salt, a tooth flying out.
Miasma charged out of the reeds.
She hit the first man in the leg and drove her spines into his thigh. He screamed and dropped before he could get his weapon out.
The second reached for her. Miasma twisted under his hand and bit deep into his wrist.
He jerked back. Two steps later, his fingers turned a deep purple and stopped closing properly. Then his knees gave out.
The marrowfern had done exactly what the forager promised. Her venom was spreading faster than before.
Good stuff indeed.
"Shit. Run!"
The other men reacted. Two ran for the reeds.
Nyx slid beneath the first man and pushed one forepaw into the side of his knee. His leg locked mid-stride. He crashed face-first into the mud.
"My leg's not working! Help me!"
The second man didn't even turn. Nyx Shadow Stepped onto his shoulder. Darkness spilled across his face and covered his eyes.
Blinded, he caught his foot on a root and went down hard.
"Witchcraft!"
"You picked a fight with a shadow beast. What were you expecting, bookkeeping?"
Aiden jumped behind him and put a burning palm between his shoulders.
The man screamed and collapsed.
Acid, shadow, heat. Aiden hadn't needed to stop and think about which came next.
"You're not human."
The bowstring snapped behind him. The archer had finally decided he wanted part of the fight.
The arrow came straight at his chest.
Aiden threw himself aside. It passed close enough to brush his coat and buried itself in the shelter wall.
"That's a bit rude for a first meeting, don't you think?"
The archer reached for another arrow. Miasma turned toward him, her spines raised.
He froze, the arrow staying in his hand.
One of the last men backed toward Cinder. It was the one who had put the pot on her.
He saw Miasma between him and the reeds, panicked, and grabbed the nearest thing he could use as cover. His hand closed in Cinder's fur.
Aiden felt her patience end.
Fire snapped across her shoulders.
One short burst caught the man across the chest and threw him into the mud. He rolled, screaming, until the wet ground killed the flames.
Cinder banked her fire immediately. The burst had cost her. Not enough to endanger her, but enough that Aiden knew the fen would take time to replace it.
Cinder stared at the man in the mud. She looked willing to spend more.
"Cinder."
She turned her head.
"Enough."
She growled.
"Yes. I saw the pot."
The growl got louder.
The bow hit the ground. The archer dropped to his knees, eyes wide at Cinder.
"T-That thing's not spent? This is a nightmare. A nightmare!"
Miasma watched him from beside the shelter. Nyx covered the clearest path into the reeds.
Aiden crouched over him.
"Not yet. It gets worse if you don't answer. Who told you there was stock here?"
The man answered before Aiden had to ask anything else.
"A broker downriver. He sells tips. Said there was a soft holder up here with beasts worth more than we'd make in a year. Said there was already a price posted on them too. City paper. Money guaranteed by a House. I don't know whose House. Men like us don't get names. We heard the claim was empty except for you and thought we'd take what we could."
That explained the boots and salt. The posting mattered more. Someone had put a House-backed price on his beasts.
"Go."
The man blinked.
"Go before she changes my mind."
He looked at Miasma.
Her spines lifted.
The man bolted.
"The others too. Take your friends with you. If anyone's still around in a minute, you can explain why to my beasts."
The man skidded to a stop, turned back, and started dragging the nearest man up.
Aiden watched until the last of them disappeared into the reeds. By the next river town, anyone thinking about easy money in the fen would hear what happened here.
Once the last stranger was gone, he walked to Cinder.
Fire folded around her and she stepped out in her human shape. She kicked the stewpot into the channel.
"A man put a pot on me."
"I noticed."
"On me."
"I noticed that part too."
Nyx's eyes narrowed with amusement, and she slapped both paws against the ground.
Cinder narrowed her eyes at her, then smirked. Nyx answered with an offended growl.
Miasma watched from beside Aiden, her face half-hidden behind her tail. Aiden knew she was laughing like a noble lady behind a fan.
Aiden decided not to smile.
"I could have stopped them," Cinder snarled.
She looked toward the reeds where the last taker had disappeared.
She's considering burning something to vent.
"Those men weren't worth it."
"No." Her embers brightened beneath her skin. "The next ones are."
"The ones behind the posting?"
"They're coming for us?"
"Probably."
"Good. I'll fight."
Aiden looked at the low fire beneath her skin.
"If they're prepared for beasts, you'll spend more than you did today, and the fen still won't replace it quickly."
"I know." She stepped closer. "Do not ask me to lie on that stone while someone comes for our pack."
Aiden held her gaze.
"Fine."
"Good." Cinder wrapped her arm around his shoulder, smiling. "I hope it's that man. Harken Vane. I've let his cold room and Frost Wolf go. He's not returning to his mansion if he shows me his face."
Aiden didn't answer. Not because Cinder's naked chest pressed against his. Because he was considering who it might be.
He would have bet on Harken before the Academy assessment. Now? He wasn't so sure anymore. Tier Three beasts were fought over. Harken saw more value in the man who could make a dying wolf evolve twice.
He'd have added a reward to capture me alive. It could be anyone who saw Cinder during the assessment.
He pulled away and draped his coat over Cinder's shoulders.
"We'll see."
Miasma was already scraping mud and blood from the spines along her shoulder. Nyx emerged beside the recovered bag of salt.
Aiden picked it up.
At least that survived.
He looked toward the river. A House had put a price on his pack. The next men wouldn't come for his salt.